Mini Rotelle Pasta Muffins

Did you guys read my Pasta story? Since that day, I just couldn’t stop eating Pasta. I tried it in Soup and even in Sandwich! What can I say!! I am an Indian, madly in love with Italian food, and sometimes, I secretly wish that I was an Italian … hush hush!!! 😛 I find the Italian language super sexy and the way they move their hands when they talk, and specially the fact that cheese and wine are the major part of their every day meal. Well, not like we Indians can’t do that and I am sure there are Italians who are secretly wishing that they were Indians and they could have such variety of culture and cuisines with different spices in their everyday meal.

OK, enough of admiring the grass on the other side, which always looks a lot greener than on your side. Let’s get down to business, I mean food 🙂 The other day, as usual, I was watching Giada’s show on Food Network after lunch and she was cooking for kids. In-fact, she was basically cooking with them like a training class. She prepared a lot of kid’s food, shakes and cookies. One dish that caught my attention was Mac and Cheese muffins. Can you believe this? How creative was that? I immediately knew that I had to make them sometime soon.

Every week I participate in Presto Pasta Night and this week, the event is host by Ruth. She also the original host of the event. Initially, I was thinking of making a pasta with some chicken in Indian style and add a lot of spices. Then, I changed my mind and decided to make the muffins. They came out perfectly cooked. They tasted awsm and they looked awsm. Yes, Giada made those for kids, but I gave my own twist to it and made it for big kids.. us 😉

If you want to refer to Giada’s recipe, click here. The measurement I used will make approximately 15 muffins. And, I would suggest to use cupcake papers as it would be easy to pull them out. I didn’t use it this time, but felt the need for it.

Mini Rotelle Pasta Muffins

Ingredients

2 cups mini Rotelle Wheel Pasta

1 cup milk

1 tbs butter

1 tbs all purpose flour

1 medium tomato, chopped

2 cups bread crumbs

couple handful of baby spinach

4 to 5 shiitake mushroom, finely chopped

7 to 8 asparagus, cut into tiny pieces

2 cups grated cheese, I used Mozzarella

1 tsp chilly power

1 tsp dry oregeno

2 cloves garlic

salt and pepper

oil

Instructions

In a pan, heat some oil and add garlic cloves. Please note that the garlic should not be chopped. We just want to induce the flavor of garlic in the oil. So, after two minutes, remove the garlic cloves from the oil.

Add mushroom and spinach to the pan and saute for a while. Then, add the tomatoes. Once it's cooked, keep it aside.

Boil the pasta with some salt.

In the same pan, heat butter and then, add the chilly powder, oregano, salt and pepper.

Next, add the flour to the pan and keep stirring to make sure that the flour does not get burnt.

Add 1 cup cheese and milk in the pan and mix them properly.

Now, add the cooked mushroom and spinach, which was kept aside, and mix all the ingredients thoroughly.

Add the boiled pasta to it and if required, add little pasta water.

Blanch the asparagus, which means boil it for sometime, until it's crispy. Strain them from hot water and drop them in a bowl with ice water.

Pre heat the oven to 375 F.

Grease the muffin pans with some oil and dust them with bread crumbs.

Using a spoon, fill the muffin molds with the mixture and add some cheese over it. Then, add asparagus on the top of it and finally, cover them with bread crumbs.

Drizzle some oil and bake it for 18 to 20 minutes.

Let it cool for 5 minutes. Then, remove them very carefully from the mold.

Comments are closed.

I am so glad you left a comment on my blog-glad because now I’ve come across your blog and I just love it! It’s so professional-looking, your pictures are droolworthy and I love your writeups before the recipe! I’ve never heard of this recipe before, mac n cheese muffins, must give it a try! As for your trying out sardines, as mentioned in your comment, you’re right,I can’t believe you’re a Bengali and haven’t tasted sardines 🙂 but I guess, although we Keralites and Bengalis have a lot in common, the kind of fish we eat differs according to the availability! Anyway, I do hope you’ll be able to convince your husband to try fish the “unfilleted” way one day 🙂

By the way, I noticed two things in your blog-one, your Julia Child quote…I just love her and loved the movie too -The Julie/Julia Project AND I too have this obsession with Italy…when I was a kid I used to fantasise about marrying an Italian and settling down in our own lil’ Italian island, eating pasta and pizza and sundried tomatoes and whatnot….was in fact thinking of mentioning that in an upcoming meme that I’ve been tagged with! No kidding!

Apologize if I’ve taken up too much space..yeah, I talk a lot too :-D.

nice “meeting” you and TC! See you around! Adding you to my blogroll!

aipi

March 3, 2011 at 9:46 PM

I totally love some of the recipes of Giada as well and this is definitely one of them. You have done it total justice n your fab pictures present it very well !

US Masala

tahemeem

March 3, 2011 at 10:58 PM

Its a pure coincidence that i saw the same recipe and i was planning to do the same kind of pasta muffin but with mini farfalle.. no kidding.. but i know mine will not looks as delicious as yours… they looks mouthwatering and beautiful… absolutely beautiful 😀 By the way i secretly wish i was italian and i dont have to feel guilty of eating cheese 😀

OhEmGee…….. you had me at pasta… and again at cupcake… and again with your GORGEOUS pictures! I am a pasta head also… in every way, shape and form, and have been told that I may become pasta soon, if I eat any more!

I too love Giada. What does all this mean? You and I must be somehow secretly related.

Renee

Kankana…Thanks for dropping in on my site, leaving lovely comment on “Dahi Bhalla”..If not for your comment, I wouldn’t have found out your amazing blog. I just scrolled thru your blog, loved the beautiful page u have created, lovely recipes and awesome pics! Just “Liked” u on facebook 🙂

Take care! Vaishali

About

Hey there! I am Kankana and this is my culinary space where I unfold memories, share stories and try new flavours. Easy effortless cooking with fresh ingredients is my mantra and I like to carry that in my everyday meal.